Nazis and Cigarettes

I hate to jump on any media bandwagon and reprint photos that are already zooming all over the Internet, but WHAT THE HELL was Prince Harry thinking? He attended a costume party this week wearing a Nazi uniform complete with swastika armband. Just the kind of press the Royal Family needs, especially as plans are underway to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this month. The Royals haven’t suffered such a PR blow since Harry’s great uncle, the Duke of Windsor, met with Hitler in 1937 and declared him no threat to world peace. But unlike the former King, who gave up the throne for his American wife who some say had a fondness for Nazis, I don’t think for a second that Harry is a Nazi sympathizer, he’s just guilty of a colossal error in judgment. I can only imagine what Diana would have said. Harry has already publicly apologized for any “offense he caused,” but Diana probably would have had him on the first plane to Poland to tour the remains of the death camp. Then he’d do a volunteer stint at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. And am I crazy for being just as shocked by the cigarette in his 20-year-old hand as I am by the Nazi uniform? Why on earth would someone that young start smoking in this day and age, much less if that person were second in line to the English throne? Oh wait, make that third in line—his daddy still hasn’t had his shot. Poor Charles. Will he ever get to be King, or will Liz still be holding on to that damn sceptre when she’s 110? He just may have to pry it out of her arthritic hands.

I once shook Prince Charles’ hand. It was late 1970s and he was opening a new exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. I stood in line for hours, God help me, just to be able to say I shook the hand of the future King of England. We didn’t know then that his mother would hold onto the job like a royal pit bull. Not that I begrudge her the crown, I think she should stay in that post until she drops dead if that’s what she wants. I can understand why she won’t abdicate—the last one in her family to do so didn’t fare so well. I remember when the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret was visiting Chicago and infuriated the huge Irish community when she was overheard at an official party saying “The Irish—they’re pigs.” Called on the carpet, she tried to make us believe that what she really said was “The Irish—they do jigs.” Right.

I always felt for poor Margaret, though. Her parents wouldn’t let her marry her true love, Peter Townsend, just because he was divorced. They forced her into a marriage with Anthony Armstrong-Jones which, ironically but not surprisingly, ended in divorce. Did no one remind Margaret’s royal parents that the sole reason the Church of England was founded was so that Henry VIII could divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn? (And then have her head chopped off a few years later…oh well, so much for true love.)

Comments

[shari]

I hate to burst your bubble, dear, sweet Danny, but as someone who works on a college campus, I can tell you that a large portion of our youth today have begun to smoke at a much younger age than 20...

[toni spencer]

Dear Danny, first of all I think you SHOULD try and imagine what 'dear' Diana would have said... secondly why are we/you surprised at the unimaginable stupidity and lack of social graces that it would take ANYONE to think that dressing up as a Nazi is 'funny...' And did you see that the theme of the party was 'native' whatever the hell thats supposed to mean.... and why am I not surprised that you waited in line to shake Prince Charles hand... Do you not understand how the royals pity and despise the common man?? AND make no effort to disguise it. Anyway I do think that if you are going to mention the shaking of the hand, at least you should have given a description of how it went/felt/etc-

[Danny]

In the service of my imagined readership, I will add that Toni is a bonafide citizen of the UK. I think this gives her anti-royalist rant added texture! Is that why you're living here, Toni, so you don't have to support those darling royals? You're right—the theme of the party where Harry was in Nazi drag was utterly offensive, I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more press. It was a colonial/native party, with several young British aristocrats even wearing blackface. OY! At least Prince William had the sense to stay in the animal world—he went dressed as a leopard (maybe one of the thousands hunted down by his ancestors?). And as for smoking, what are all these twentysomethings trying to prove? That they can get cancer before 50? As far as I'm concerned, smoking should be on the same level as crack and heroin. Oh, and Prince Charles' handshake? It wasn't worth the wait...

[Villi]

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